Heaven in a Sidewalk Wildflower

by Aberjhani

Title

Heaven in a Sidewalk Wildflower

Artist

Aberjhani

Medium

Photograph - Photography + Silk-featherbrush

Description

"Heaven in a Sidewalk Wildflower" takes its paraphrased title from the famous poem by William Blake titled TO SEE A WORLD IN A GRAIN OF SAND. Technically, this is a mixed media piece composed of color photography and a separate black and white Silk-Featherbrush inlaid background. The dual elements qualify the work for inclusion in the Adapting and Growing Where Life Puts You Collection as well as the Silk-Featherbrush Collection.

The blossoming greenery in this work is not in fact a wildflower but a variety of sidewalk survivors (more typically referred to as weeds) which caught my attention because of the pattern in which its slender branches were spreading and the tiny clusters of clover-like leaves. I did not use any kind of special lens to capture this image but knelt down to get as tight a shot as I could. I'm sure a passerby or two wondered about the strangeness of my behavior and my knees made it clear they would not mind if I did invest in a close-up lens.

What surprised me more than anything else upon capturing the shot was the mixture of colors which emerged from the concrete sidewalk itself. As it turned out, I wasn't just walking over square gray slabs. There at my feet was a tiny world of blues, yellow-golds, reds, indigo, and different shades in-between. The revelation gave renewed meaning to William Blake's short poem: "To see a world in a grain of sand/ And a heaven in a wild flower/ Hold infinity in the palm of your hand/ And eternity in an hour."

Aberjhani
November 2018

Uploaded

November 28th, 2018

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